MOMENTS OF GRATITUDE

Photo Credits: @matthew_t_rader

It was the evening of September 5, 2019. I had ordered a bike that was to take me home after the day’s work on that fateful Thursday evening. The sky was a bit angry reflecting a dark cloud oozing threats. The eventual weekend was the final burial rites of my father-in-law. My wife and my son had gone to our hometown a few days ahead to prepare for the burial. I didn’t want to go until the wake-keep Friday but my dad insisted that I should try to be around that same day the 5th. I tried all I could but I could not finish the office work on time. It was already evening which meant traveling that Thursday was a no-no!

As I journeyed home that evening, all that was on my mind was how I was going to wake up the following Friday and travel to Ikere Ekiti my home town to see my son having missed him a lot and also taking part in the burial rites of my late father-in-law. A few more miles to the house, there seemed to be what looked like a minor traffic-jam and so we had to wait too. While we waited for the on-coming truck to pave way for us, I heard behind me what seemed to be like the sound of another truck too close for comfort! Wouldn’t this man apply his breaks?! I thought, as I took a glance of him from the corner of my right eye. Alas! He was already on our tail and at that instant, all I could do was to shout for help calling the only person I knew could save me or us at that very moment. “Jesus!” I shouted. As the truck came crashing on us! The impact threw us on the road together with the motorcycle we were on. And again I heard the truck engine rev one more time, roaring as if to finish what it started…but then Jesus heard me. The gear had disengaged so that the truck did not move any further but only stood there roaring like an accomplished lion.

Photo Credits: @brigettetohm

We got up from the road we had been lying helplessly while I stood aside by the road side. Immediately Good Samaritans came to our rescue and then the driver of the truck came too, begging and trying to explain what lead to him losing control of the truck. As they begged, I was still thinking of what just happened and finally I spoke? “You asked me not to get angry? Why would I even think of getting angry? I can only thank God for sparing my life. If the accident had been more serious, if I had died or if I had lost my legs, who was I supposed to get angry at or what correction would my anger have brought?” And with that, the bike rider and the truck driver came to an agreement. He was compensated for his damaged bike and then he took me home to complete our journey.

In just a moment of carelessness, I would have lost the opportunity of ever seeing my son again! I had spoken with my wife a few minutes before then and maybe someone would eventually find my phone and then call her to break the sad news to her. Maybe they wouldn’t! Maybe they would ask her to come to the morgue to identify a certain corpse. All in a flash of carelessness, everything would have been over, everything would have changed! That day I thought very deeply! If we wake up in the morning and we go to work, if we return back home to meet our families, we should not take this for granted! Daily, people leave their homes never to return. When next you have an opportunity to see your family again, be grateful! When you sleep at night and you wake up in the morning, be grateful!

Photo Credits: @Freshhconnection

I see people on many occasions in similar situations, people who have just escaped a near death encounter getting down from their cars of bikes, proceeding to the other motorist and then start fighting. For God’s sake, you just narrowly escaped dying and the next thing you thought you should do was to hit the guy who almost accidentally killed you? Be grateful, you just went through the valley of the shadows of death!

The following day, I could not wake up as early as I planned! I woke up with some pain on my backside. I guess it was from that impact. It wasn’t something serious, though for a few days I still felt the pain. But it was far better than losing my limbs or even dying. Far better than never seeing Daniel my first born again!

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